Overall crime shows 7 decline

Wed, Jan 8th 2020, 09:53 AM

CRIME declined by seven percent in 2019 despite a four percent uptick in murders and a 12 percent increase in armed robberies, according to police statistics. Police Commissioner Anthony Ferguson, as he released the statistics, cited Hurricane Dorian for the murder increase from 91 in 2018 to 95 in 2019, saying law enforcement will learn from having its resources stretched to respond to a natural disaster. Compared to 2018, murders declined in the first, second and fourth quarters of 2019 by 27, seven and 31 percent respectively. However, murders increased in the third quarter by 18 percent. “Having to police between Abaco and New Providence using resources from Nassau in Abaco, we were stretched,” Commissioner Ferguson said. “We had to remove the persons who were in the actual storm from out of Abaco which meant rotating persons weekly and taking persons out daily by flights and boat. Before the storm, there were 49 officers stationed on Abaco and today there are 75. While our attention was focused on Abaco and surrounding cays, a handful of criminals wreaked havoc in New Providence.”

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